Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW

Wednesday, September 7th, 2016 5:18pm CDT

Categories: Cartoon News, Reviews, Site Articles, Editorials
Posted by: Bronzewolf Views: 42,060

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Hey, Seibertronians! It's Tuesday again, and that means- wait, what? Why- What do you mean it's not Tuesday?! No, there's no way...It's...Wednesday?! What?! How did...? Wow, Labor Day really messed me up.

Well, I guess we should just jump in to the breakdown, then. I don't want you to have to wait any longer.

Episode 6 starts off immediately where 5 ended, with Rodimus in the hands (quite literally) of Devastator. His voice oddly sounds like an Autotuned mess here, but I don't know why. He doesn't speak normally with Autotune, so I find it weird that they would use it here. Anyway, the decepticon combiner throws Rodimus back to the council, demanding that he be given the Enigma of Combination. Megatron tells him to stand down, but Devastator refuses, saying Megatron isn't his leader anymore. On the close-ups during this scene, again, the mouth sync is as bad as a terribly-dubbed anime, (Odd, because it was animated to sync to English, not Japanese, so at least the Anime have an excuse.) but I've said that a thousand times, so I'll move past it.

Another issue I haven't really touched on in these reviews is the sound level. I know a lot of people won't care at all, as this is a very technical detail, but it does effect everyone who watches it. The sounds level is completely random, and ear-splittingly loud sometimes. One moment, I have to turn my volume up to hear all the dialogue, but then during mainly the action-driven parts, the audio peaks and sounds like it's coming through a blown-out subwoofer. It's not equalized at all, and just...loud. It was very prominent in this episode, so I thought I'd touch on it.

Prime, Windblade, and Megatron all try to fight off Devastator, but it doesn't look like Devvy was the only one who heard about the Council's new toy. Victorion arrives, and demands to have the enigma. Devastator claims it as his, and they battle over ownership.

Transformers News: Re: Machinima Transformers Combiner Wars Animated Series Discussion Thread

The party don't start till I walk in...

The council comes to the unanimous decision that it's best to use the Enigma against the Combiners. They activate the relic, which turns into a Matrix of Leadership-style orb with handles. Rodimus discovers that (for some reason) he can't posses the Enigma. They never explain why, it just happens. He basically reaches out, touches it, gets zapped, and says "Welp, that's it for me. Good luck!". They at least give an explanation as to why the Mistress can't use it, (it might be a terrible one, but it's still a reason) but they don't say anything about why Rodimus can't. Tell me in the comments if it's more obvious to you why, because it makes no sense to me.

Victorion and Devastator face off

So, because neither other member of the council can harness it's power, the Enigma is given to Starscream. He must take control and tell the combiners to stop. Rodimus tells him he trusts him, and that the former decepticon should do the right thing and end the war.

Oh, he will.

He uses the Enigma to take control of all the combiners, reviving Computron and Menasor, and debilitating Devastator and Victorion. He starts to use them as his own limbs, literally making a combiner combiner, and betrays the council.

We interrupt Transformers to bring you Voltron

Megatron is the first to realise what's happening, and laughs at what Starscream has orchestrated, saying it's exactly what he would have done.

Starscream finishes his evolution, becoming one of the most powerful beings ever created. We see a glimpse of him before the episode ends.

-Evil version of "You've got the Touch" plays-

So, some final thoughts. I enjoyed this episode. Not as much as the previous couple admittedly, but I enjoyed it. I agree with some of the commenters on the boards, it's a shame to see an interesting iteration of a character turn out to not be as different or interesting as we thought. Starscream, just like war, never changes. He reminded me of the comics, where he took up the role of politician, except this version to me was more intriguing just because he didn't seem to have any ulterior motives. I also agree that Megatron is the best character in the series. I actually think he's one of the best executed Megatrons in Transformers history. It suits him so well. You got that right, Machinima created one of my favorite iterations of Megatron ever. Never thought you'd hear me say that now, did ya?

There's only a few more episodes left...how will it all tie together? What other characters will we see? Doesn't that song that plays in the background while Starscream starts forming the combiners sound like Blue Monday by New Order? Speculate in the comments below! But before you do, watch the episode now on Go90 and if you're outside the U.S., check out our announcement article for alternate viewing options. See you next week! Same bot-time, same bot-channel!

Credit(s): Machinima, Go90

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Re: Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW (1822591)
Posted by .... on September 7th, 2016 @ 6:05pm CDT

I think there are some good elements in this cartoon, but it is definitely not a GREAT cartoon. I agree with all the issues you pointed out, Bronzewolf. One thing that confuses me is why the heck Optimus and Windblade went to get Megatron to "help" when they would've been better off without him. It just doesn't make sense to me. I do love that Starscream combiner combiner though. That looks awesome, and it really makes me with that this could be a toy.

Re: Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW (1822595)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on September 7th, 2016 @ 6:13pm CDT

With Machinima's Combiner Wars series in full swing, and considering the big green guy himself has made his appearance in the show, it would only be right for someone to tweet his original design art! IDW Artist Andrew Griffith was nice enough to Tweet his original design for Devastator, which is heavily based on his Combiner Wars toy. There were some modifications made to the big green wrecking machine prior to his appearance in the series, but it is nice to see what he was supposed to look like in Griffith's mind. Check out the image below, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!

Re: Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW (1822627)
Posted by Prime1701 on September 7th, 2016 @ 8:11pm CDT

I think Rodimus was not chosen because he was missing an arm, and Starscream was not.

Re: Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW (1822708)
Posted by Sabrblade on September 7th, 2016 @ 11:39pm CDT

o.supreme wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:Plus, the Prelude video was him giving an internal monologue, a bout of inward self-reflection, proclaiming his reformation..

Was it internal??...I never took it that way... and even if it was, the best sociopaths are the ones that lie to themselves.

Well, unless he was breaking the fourth wall, there was no one else he was talking to, so it'd have to have been an internal monologue spoken to himself. His mouth wasn't moving either.

o.supreme wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:His betrayal in this episode just renders that Prelude a complete and utter lie to the audience

which is what Starscream does best...just sayin... No need to go on a huge long rant to defend your point. I know I am the lone wolf here...just so long as we know there is no right or wrong...just differing opinions.

Gonna try to keep this as short as needed to avoid another huge long rant. Like I said in my rant, up until this point, he wasn't acting like the typical Starscream. We had no reason to doubt his sincerity prior to his betrayal because of how consistent Machinima had written him beforehand. Like I said, disregard what you know of guys named "Starscream" when thinking about this. Or, better yet, imagine if it was any other character put in this situation, in which the show did all it could to establish said character as genuinely trying to do right by Cybertron for the good of all, only to turn around at the last minute and backstab everyone without any prior indication that doing so is something that this character would feel inclined to do. That it didn't make sense from the standpoint of the show's established narrative is why it was so jarring, along with how it took away from how interesting he was before in favor of making him as ordinary and cliche as ever, which is something a lot of us did not want to happen.

Re: Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW (1822720)
Posted by King Kuuga on September 8th, 2016 @ 12:27am CDT

Prime1701 wrote:I think Rodimus was not chosen because he was missing an arm, and Starscream was not.

I fail to see how a missing arm would make him unsuitable to use the Enigma of Combination, which seems to rely mostly on thought processes.

Re: Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW (1822728)
Posted by fenrir72 on September 8th, 2016 @ 2:58am CDT

Sabrblade wrote:Incoming rant:

To all those who keep saying we should have expected this from Starscream because this is how he's supposed to be because "He's Starscream!"...

We were promised a new Starscream, a different Starscream, a more mature, self-aware, developed Starscream who has grown past his past ambitions after having actually fulfilled the ambitions he had so longed for, as given by his Prelude video:

This video presented us with a Starscream who actually had intrigue and newfound wisdom. A take on Starscream that promised several possibilities for a great wealth of potential. It laid the foundations and precedent for this show's Starscream to having grown out of his desire for power and authority because he had finally acquired the power and authority he sought for so long... and realized that having said power and authority wasn't all it's cracked up to be.

This video showed a promising new start for Starscream trying to better assume a role of responsibility and duty with a genuine concern for the greater good of Cybertron. And up until this latest episode, he gave every impression of living up to that role described in his Prelude.

Then, along comes the end of episode 6, in which he suddenly pulls a heel-face turn and goes back to being the ambitious Starscream that he used to be before he matured, doing so completely without any precedent besides the shallow reason of "because he's Starscream".

That is both awful and lazy storytelling, made even worse by their doing such to one of the show's only two interesting characters. There was no subtlety to be read into Starscream's behavior leading up to his betrayal. It came completely out of nowhere and contradicted everything this show had done to establish its Starscream as reformed prior to this point.

This wasn't him "playing the long game", it was him getting his newfound personality completely and hastily overridden by his older one for no other reason than to surprise the viewers watching this show. Disregard everything you know about the typical Starscream-type character, pretending that you're a new viewer to Transformers watching this show as your first ever exposure to TF fiction, and you'd see that Starscream's betrayal was completely forced.

It's fine if anyone here prefers the traditional backstabbing take on Starscream, yes. But up until episode 6 happened, this wasn't that kind of Starscream. One can argue "He's Starscream!" all they want, but up until now, he wasn't THAT Starscream anymore. It doesn't matter if whether his going back to being a double-crosser "makes him right again" or not, it ruined the integrity of this version of the character's portrayal, rendering said portrayal both inconsistent and convoluted in the grand scheme of things, and that's bad for any kind of serious work of fiction that's trying (or at least thinks it's trying) to do a good job with its story and characters in a sensible, non-comical way.

For all this show's faults, it's clear that it at least thinks it's trying to do a seriously good quality job, but seems completely oblivious to all its wrongdoings (in this case, making Starscream turn on the others at the last minute when there's no precedent for him to do so).

Didn't even foresee that those intro movies were a red herring? Designed to confuse/cover up the plot?

I have the feel of the Underbase Saga. Old SS is gonna get the "hives" from being ODed with the enigma and explode in the end. Or see Jeebus aka Primus at the end of the tunnel and repent.

Re: Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW (1822730)
Posted by Va'al on September 8th, 2016 @ 3:54am CDT

After yesterday's Devastator concept lineart from IDW artist Andrew Griffith for Machinima's Transformers: Combiner Wars animated series, we also have another of his designs - courtesy of his Twitter account - for a gestalt character: the fan-made combiner Victorion, from the Torchbearers/Rust Renegades team! Check out our gallery of the toy here, and a review of her first appearance in IDW right here, then compare Sara Pitre Durocher's concepts to the art by Griffith below.

Re: Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW (1822824)
Posted by Sabrblade on September 8th, 2016 @ 9:19am CDT

fenrir72 wrote:Didn't even foresee that those intro movies were a red herring? Designed to confuse/cover up the plot?

I have the feel of the Underbase Saga. Old SS is gonna get the "hives" from being ODed with the enigma and explode in the end. Or see Jeebus aka Primus at the end of the tunnel and repent.

Except it was extremely obvious what Starscream was up to and plotting in the Underbase Saga, what with all his asides that made his plans perfectly clear to the readers. In that story, there was no lying to the audience.

Re: Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW (1822969)
Posted by 1984forever on September 8th, 2016 @ 3:57pm CDT

all the complaints about Starscream being treacherous.

I was actually surprised that Starscream crapped on everybody for a second. But then my surprise was overshadowed by happiness that the old Starscream was back. My Starscream. Character development is so overrated. Characters change and then go right back to how you first were introduced to them with the next franchise reboot. Why bother? Just keep everyone the same.

Re: Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW (1822982)
Posted by o.supreme on September 8th, 2016 @ 4:30pm CDT

1984forever wrote::lol: all the complaints about Starscream being treacherous.

I was actually surprised that Starscream crapped on everybody for a second. But then my surprise was overshadowed by happiness that the old Starscream was back. My Starscream... Characters change and then go right back to how you first were introduced to them with the next franchise reboot. Why bother? Just keep everyone the same.

Re: Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW (1823011)
Posted by Autobot N on September 8th, 2016 @ 6:52pm CDT

1984forever wrote::lol: all the complaints about Starscream being treacherous.

I was actually surprised that Starscream crapped on everybody for a second. But then my surprise was overshadowed by happiness that the old Starscream was back. My Starscream. Character development is so overrated. Characters change and then go right back to how you first were introduced to them with the next franchise reboot. Why bother? Just keep everyone the same.

...

You've got to be kidding me.

Re: Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW (1823026)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on September 8th, 2016 @ 8:29pm CDT

Autobot N wrote:
1984forever wrote::lol: all the complaints about Starscream being treacherous.

I was actually surprised that Starscream crapped on everybody for a second. But then my surprise was overshadowed by happiness that the old Starscream was back. My Starscream. Character development is so overrated. Characters change and then go right back to how you first were introduced to them with the next franchise reboot. Why bother? Just keep everyone the same.

...

You've got to be kidding me.

He's not.

I preferred the character development, but poor Screamer fell victim to the show

Re: Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW (1823049)
Posted by .... on September 8th, 2016 @ 10:03pm CDT

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:
Autobot N wrote:
1984forever wrote::lol: all the complaints about Starscream being treacherous.

I was actually surprised that Starscream crapped on everybody for a second. But then my surprise was overshadowed by happiness that the old Starscream was back. My Starscream. Character development is so overrated. Characters change and then go right back to how you first were introduced to them with the next franchise reboot. Why bother? Just keep everyone the same.

...

You've got to be kidding me.

He's not.

I preferred the character development, but poor Screamer fell victim to the show

I liked Screamer as he was first introduced. This show really needs to have had longer episodes though. I wanted to see why Screams acted the way he did. How he got where he was. Unless we get a comic to go along with the same story, I'm not satisfied. At least he looks cool combined with all the combiners though.

Re: Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW (1823065)
Posted by Gaudreau on September 9th, 2016 @ 12:43am CDT

It's been a mediocre show, but I enjoy it for what it is. I wish there were more characters and character development; but I get it's hard to do that in a 5 minute show. I look forward to the new shows and that's that

Re: Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW (1823381)
Posted by fenrir72 on September 9th, 2016 @ 9:58pm CDT

Gaudreau wrote:It's been a mediocre show, but I enjoy it for what it is. I wish there were more characters and character development; but I get it's hard to do that in a 5 minute show. I look forward to the new shows and that's that

More characters to "SELL" that is. The primary purpose for this is just its a very flashy advertisement divided into many parts.

Re: Machinima's Transformers Combiner Wars Episode 6 REVIEW (1823876)
Posted by Va'al on September 12th, 2016 @ 4:07am CDT

We sort of missed on these when Machinima first shared them last month, but they seem to be making the rounds again via social media and artists sharing them - so we thought to highlight their existence again! Check out below four promotional pieces of art for the animated series Combiner Wars, featuring some of the major players in the show, as imagined by Guido Guidi, Chris Antoin, Keron Grant, and Skan Srisuwan!

Click on any image to download it in higher resolution.